Saturday, October 17, 2015

5 Creative Tools to Use with Google Classroom: Coggle (1 of 5)

We recently conducted a professional development session for the teachers in our 1:1 pilot, and the focus was "From Consumers to Creators." The goal was to give teachers tools they could use for students to create products, not just consume content.

Honestly, not every teacher is at this point in their comfort level with technology, but we're trying to create a vision of what technology use can be in the classroom. Teachers were able to choose their own path during the session: they could go back and review the tools we explored during our August Institute, or they could go on and investigate these new tools for their teaching toolbox.

For each tool, we wanted to be explicit about how students would create an account, create their product, then submit their work in Classroom. In most of the videos, teachers saw both their own teacher view as well as the student view. De-mystifying the process from both sides goes a long way toward helping teachers take the leap to student creation.

Coggle is up first. Possibly the most straightforward mind-mapping tool ever, it integrates with Google Drive and allow students to make all kinds of connections about what they're learning. Whether it's vocabulary, concepts, or events, Coggle lets you make thinking visual.